VVFA Modern | Artists | Alexander Calder (American, 1898 - 1976)
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Little introduction is needed for Alexander Calder, who is one of the most renowned artists of the twentieth century. Calder gained greatest acclaim for his "mobiles", a termed coined by friend Marcel Duchamp describing Calder's anchored moving sculptures. He was, however, prolific and worked throughout his career in many art forms. He produced drawings, oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, gouache and serigraphy. Calder's abstract paintings, such as this impressive example, are characteristically direct, spare, buoyant, colorful, and carefully crafted.
Alexander Calder was born in 1898 in Philadelphia, and both his father and grandfather were well-known sculptors. After obtaining his mechanical engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology, Calder worked at various jobs before enrolling at the Art Students League in New York in 1923. In 1936 he moved to Paris where he took some classes at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and made his first wire sculptures. By 1928, Calder had gained international recognition as a significant artist after exhibiting in New York, Berlin and Paris. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio proved pivotal, and Calder began to work in an abstract style, finishing his first non-objective construction in 1931. From the 1940's on, Calder's works, many of them large-scale outdoor sculptures, have been placed in virtually every major city of the Western World.
Exhibitions:
Salon of Independent Artists Galerie Percier, Paris, 1932 New York City, 1932 Art Institute of Chicago Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1934 International Exposition, Paris, 1937 World's Fair, New York, 1939 Golden Gate Exposition, 1939 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1944-66 Biennale Venice, 1952 (1st prize for non-Italian sculptor) International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting & Sculpture, Pittsburgh, PA 1958 (1st prize, sculpture) National Institute for Arts and Letters, 1971 (gold medal) Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976 (retrospective)
Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Philadelphia Museum of Art City Museum of Art, St. Luis, MO Wadsworth Atheneum Berkshire Museum of Art, Smith College, MA Chicago Art Club Washington University Museum of Western Art, Moscow, Russia
Public Commissions:
General Motors Corp., Detroit, MI, 1954 Kennedy Airport, New York City, 1958 UNESCO Building, Paris, France, 1958 Spoleto, Italy, 1962 Guggenheim Museum, 1964 Aztec Stadium, Mexico City, 1966
Alexander Calder was born in 1898 in Philadelphia, and both his father and grandfather were well-known sculptors. After obtaining his mechanical engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology, Calder worked at various jobs before enrolling at the Art Students League in New York in 1923. In 1936 he moved to Paris where he took some classes at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and made his first wire sculptures. By 1928, Calder had gained international recognition as a significant artist after exhibiting in New York, Berlin and Paris. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio proved pivotal, and Calder began to work in an abstract style, finishing his first non-objective construction in 1931. From the 1940's on, Calder's works, many of them large-scale outdoor sculptures, have been placed in virtually every major city of the Western World.
Exhibitions:
Salon of Independent Artists Galerie Percier, Paris, 1932 New York City, 1932 Art Institute of Chicago Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1934 International Exposition, Paris, 1937 World's Fair, New York, 1939 Golden Gate Exposition, 1939 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1944-66 Biennale Venice, 1952 (1st prize for non-Italian sculptor) International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting & Sculpture, Pittsburgh, PA 1958 (1st prize, sculpture) National Institute for Arts and Letters, 1971 (gold medal) Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976 (retrospective)
Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Philadelphia Museum of Art City Museum of Art, St. Luis, MO Wadsworth Atheneum Berkshire Museum of Art, Smith College, MA Chicago Art Club Washington University Museum of Western Art, Moscow, Russia
Public Commissions:
General Motors Corp., Detroit, MI, 1954 Kennedy Airport, New York City, 1958 UNESCO Building, Paris, France, 1958 Spoleto, Italy, 1962 Guggenheim Museum, 1964 Aztec Stadium, Mexico City, 1966
